In Choir Or Classroom, Teacher Gets Attention

July 13, 1988|By William Harms.

Afterward, Stookey distributed newspapers to groups of students and had them find examples of sentences with just subject and verb and those with direct and indirect objects. As the students rustled through their newspapers, Stookey walked around, giving encouragement and answering questions and occasionally reminding distracted students to get back to work. Laurie Daniels, whose daughter, Amy, 14, is in one of Stookey`s 8th-grade English classes, says she has noted Amy`s significant progress this year. ``He has taught her how to write essays,`` she says. ``I think he is able to bring out the best in the students, and I think that`s because he really likes them and they like him.``

Stookey also wins praise from his peers.

Mathematics teacher Jean Nelson says: ``He gives 100 percent, whether it is to his students or to other activities at the school. He helps the PTA organize a style show every year, for instance. And this year when we were looking for a student council adviser, he was the one who volunteered.